About the Willow Creek-Lurline Wildlife Management Area

The Willow Creek-Lurline Wildlife Management Area is part of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex. It lies within the Colusa Basin, and is located approximately 10 miles south of the town of Willows in Glenn and Colusa Counties. It consists of conservation easements on privately-owned wetlands.

The Willow Creek-Lurline Wildlife Management Area was established in 1985 with the primary purpose of preserving wetland habitat for wintering waterfowl and other wetland-dependent wildlife. It has an acquisition boundary which lies within a portion of Glenn and Colusa counties, with the Willow Creek Division of the WMA lying between Sacramento and Delevan Refuges, and the Lurline Division of the WMA lying between Delevan and Colusa Refuges (click here to see a map). It includes 84 conservation easements on approximately 5,795 acres of privately-owned wetlands.

The Willow Creek-Lurline WMA represents some of the last privately-owned historic wetlands in the Colusa Basin. These lands consist of a mosaic of managed seasonal and semi-permanent wetlands and native uplands surrounded by rice agriculture. Heavy alkali soils influence the wetlands and uplands of this region, often resulting in sparse emergent vegetation and salt-tolerant plant communities. These lands provide an important corridor of natural habitat helping to link the three Refuges mentioned above.

The Willow Creek-Lurline WMA supports tens of thousands of wintering waterfowl including a signficant portion of the tule greater white-fronted goose population. In addition, the Lurline wetlands regularly support breeding tricolored blackbirds, a species of management concern.

Because the easement properties of the Willow Creek-Lurline WMA are under private ownership, public access is not permitted.

What We Do

Did you know?

Often small groups of northern shovelers bring food to the surface by swimming rapidly in a circle while swinging their bills side to side. They strain aquatic vegetation, plankton, and tiny invertebrates through the comblike edges of their shovel-shaped bill.